As the summer wanes and the unrelenting Houston sun glares on, Rice football returned to their early season grind during Sunday’s practice. Players ran through various drills and game situation simulations and at the heart of it all was senior defensive lineman Myles Adams. Adams and the team were running situation simulations to improve upon the team’s most recent 14-7 loss to Army West Point.

Fresh off their first loss of the season, the football team is looking to rebound for their first win of the season as they face Wake Forest University on Friday night at Rice Stadium. In their first game of the season, the Owls fell to Army West Point by a score of 14-7. The two teams were tied up for a majority of the game, until the Black Knights scored late in the fourth quarter. Rice had a chance to tie up the contest, but turned the ball over on downs with under two minutes left.

Rice football fell to Army West Point 14-7 last Friday, but that shouldn’t be a reason for head coach Mike Bloomgren to make a change to the starting quarterback position. After leaving the status of the position up in the air for nearly the entire offseason, and even stating that he would be willing to open the season playing multiple quarterbacks, Bloomgren named redshirt freshman Wiley Green the opening day starter at last Tuesday’s news conference.

Out-of-state students, listen up. It’s time to drop the pretensions about New York, halt the nostalgia about Los Angeles and fully embrace your new home — the one and only Houston. (Dallas kids, there’s no debate here. Face the truth, Houston is better.) Large in both population and size, Houston is home to great food, a free sweaty workout in the 100 degree weather and most importantly, talented artists across all musical genres. See some of my picks below, but know that Houston’s talent pool only continues to grow. (And who does Dallas have again? Demi Lovato. That’s it.)

Earlier this week, freshman swimmer Ahalya Lettenberger traveled to London to prepare for the World Para Swimming Championships, an international competition designed for athletes with disabilities, during which she will compete in five separate events.

In April of this year, The Hoot made a controversial decision that sparked fierce debate among the student body. Effective this semester, The Hoot will no longer be selling Chick-fil-A products because “[their] values, as a student run business, do not align with those of corporate Chick-fil-A.” While the announcement itself did not cite specific grievances, a recent Thresher news article pointed to controversial donations to charities, such as the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the Paul Anderson Youth Home and the Salvation Army that have been criticized for anti-LGBTQ+ stances. The comments section for the Facebook announcement was deeply divided. Some friends of mine who identify as LGBTQ+ or allies were in favor of the Hoot’s decision because they believed it affirmed their rights to live freely. The Hoot’s decision was particularly meaningful to one of my friends, because he felt that his right to marry as a gay man was being relitigated by organizations supported by Chick-fil-A. Others were angry that The Hoot was pushing an agenda they disagreed with.

September. To many people this month marks the beginning of a new semester, but for me it is Alopecia Awareness Month. This month should be one of learning, empowering, celebrating and destigmatizing what comes with being different.

For the last 10 years, Rice University has had 11 residential colleges. Enter McPlunkett College, Rice’s imaginary 12th college, founded in 2019 by the matriculating class. What started as an inside joke blew up to massive proportions, receiving shoutouts from Rice Housing and Dining, the Marching Owl Band and an official Rice University Instagram story. But the otherwise wholesome idea that brought new students together actually came to one of them in the form of a nightmare.

Lovett College saw plenty of new faces this school year, but not all the new kids on the block were students. August marked the beginning of Michael Gustin and Denise Klein's first school year as Lovett magisters, after being associates at the college for 18 years. They live with their shy black labrador Walter and enliven the new house by hosting Lovetteers for summer barbecues and "Bachelor in Paradise" watch events.

On-campus meal plans will now provide students with $100 in Tetra per semester rather than $50. According to David McDonald, senior business director for Housing and Dining, the additional Tetra will be allocated to students with meal plan A, B or C.

The Student Association Senate introduced a bill to create a new undergraduate position, Association of Rice Alumni liaison, to advance opportunities for collaboration with the Office of Alumni Relations and the Association of Rice Alumni. The bill was introduced at the Aug. 26 SA Senate meeting.

A large pile of abandoned or unclaimed bikes has been left in an unsecured pile outside the Rice Bikes workshop. Rice Bikes took charge of the process of storing and repurposing bikes deemed abandoned over the summer as well as contacting the owners of bikes registered to the Rice University Police Department, according to Rice Bikes General Manager Luke Howe-Kerr.

The Doerr Institute for New Leaders is now granting stipends of up to $5,000 every semester to financially support undergraduate and graduate students in leadership positions. Sarah Sullivan, department coordinator at the Doerr Institute, said the first round of applications are due on Sept. 15, and they hope to announce recipients of stipends this semester by the end of September.

“Hot girl summer” has been eclipsed by sad girl autumn thanks to “Norman Fucking Rockwell,” the sixth studio album by singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey. With this project, the New York native composes an ode to the West Coast by not only alluding to locales like Venice and Malibu beaches, but also by adopting elements of surf and folk genres to capture a nostalgic Californian psych-rock sound. At an hour and seven minutes runtime, “Norman Fucking Rockwell” paints a rose-colored portrait of contemporary Americana with especially poignant reflections on love, loneliness and youth. Come all you foolish lovers and carefree beach bums, muses and artists alike —Lana Del Rey welcomes you home.

Many of our fellow students reached out to let us know they were deeply saddened to see our campus vandalized with racist posters shortly before O-Week. In addition, almost 400 people liked McMurtry College sophomore Cordero Lopez’s tweet denouncing the posters’ message. We hope these students are also angry: angry at whoever decided it was okay to put up these posters, angry at the way our society treats those they deem outsiders and most of all, angry at President Donald Trump. His despicable, disgusting and dangerous rhetoric spits in the face of tolerance and has given hostility and violence an opportunity to grow in America. We should all be angry that it has begun to thrive.